Transcripts For CSPAN Ambassadors 20240705

From the Nations Capital to wherever you are. The opinion that matters the most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. U. S. Ambassador to belize Michelle Kwan joined u. S. Ambassadors to costa rica, el salvador, honduras, and guatemala for a discussion about u. S. Central American relations. The diplomats were asked about regional migration, economic challenges and threats from cartels and crime syndicates. The interamerican dialogue in washington, d. C. Hosted this event. It is one hour 20 minutes. I want to say that upfront. I think everyone here knows that the u. S. Is in the process of building the state department after four years of attack under the trump administration. The department lost 60 of its career ambassadors. Providing the tools and resources they need. Excuse me. So more targeted and pushed out. Others resigned in protest. I think i just saw john seeley that actually served in panama. When he left that post, it was open for far too long. These capable and dedicated diplomats on the stage today are among our best, committed to the region and many weathered attacks on our diplomatic institutions. These are the individuals leading our engagement with Central America. It is a region critical to the United States for multiple reasons that we will hear about today, not just migration. Like the rest of the americas, it deserves greater attention and resources. Turning to the challenging context in which these dedicated Public Servants are working. Many of these challenges are laid out in the Biden Harris Administration that caused recognizes addressing migration is about more than enforcing the u. S. Southern border, it is about providing hope. These include poverty and inequality, corruption and poor governments, the impact of climate change, citizen insecurity and alarming democratic backsliding. We have nicaragua, a fullfledged authoritarian repressive regime. We are saying the dismantling of Democratic Institutions in other Central American countries often starting with attacks on the a ptolemy of the judiciary. We elections, changes to the constitution that prevent indefinite reelection. We are seeing attacks on the press. This week the sentencing of a guatemalan journalist in an attack on Civil Society. In el salvador we have president because i addressing citizen insecurity issues with extremity. It is incumbent on us to Work Together to find ways to address crime and violence within a rule of law framework. As we know, bouquet he has quite a Propaganda Machine and his policies are getting traction in other countries in the region. I will turn it over to the director of the interamerican dialogue. Thank you for being here. We had the opportunity to work with you in the past and it is good to see you. Good morning, everyone and welcome, ambassadors. We will talk about migration now. We are here to talk about Central America u. S. Diplomatic relations in the region. Central america has become or continues to be a focus of attention to the United States promoting diplomatic relations. We have 300,000 people that have died since 2000 from homicides resulting from violence, more people that died in the wars of the 1970s and 80s. These are terrible situations. We have. 5 Million People migrating every year since 2018. And 40 billion in remittances, basically 23 of the regional gdp. Basically, coming from Migrant Workers in the u. S. We also have 40 billion in trade. A lot of it is produced with labor rights violations. We have environmental problems. Climate change causing Food Insecurity in guatemala. As rebecca said, we have problems with the rule of law. How do we cope with all these things . What are the main challenges we are dealing with . On top of that, we have come you know, we have, you know, trade agreements with china. China putting its nose in Central America. Russia signing agreements sending troops to nicaragua. Nicaragua has more weapons from russia and the three country then the three countries of the northern triangle combined. There are Regional Security problems. There are Regional Economic problems. So, what is your view on the ground . What i wanted to hear is a conversation mostly with the audience and you. I just want to ask one question that you can address in your own way. Basically, what is your view on the ground about the trends in the countries where you have been posted and their effects on relations with the United States . In costa rica we have a president that has been losing popularity their role was to be good just signed an agreement with the United States over a migration issue. How are costa rica and addressing this issue . In what model we have an election coming. An election that has been proven to be a test of legitimacy versus popularity versus an effort to prevent the powers that be to choose without the choice of the electorate. And, the United States has become a little bit in the middle of it. Not influencing politics in the country, but, at least, putting their foot on the ground on issues relating to the rule of law and collaborating on economic element. Then we have honduras. A president that, like in costa rica, has been losing popularity. Now i do 40 low. Now at a 40 low. And on top of that, he has alienated everyone practically. They are isolating themselves and yet they are in power. They keep a conflicted relationship with the United States. How do you, you know, think of what i am going to do tomorrow when i have to meet with soandso in the honduran government . And belize, you know, we dont talk much about belize. A small country, 100,000 people with no really with nearly 2 million tourists coming, the majority of which are gringos. You have organized crime there. How does the u. S. Seek to protect its interests with 30 of the population that is practically americans in the region at the same time . Then, el salvador. Rios is using bukeles platform and says this is the way it works. At the same time we have an economy where the government actually has very little in practical terms. The fact is, the elephant in the room, the gangs were already in decline when bukele arrived. How is the administration your job . Let me start with you. How easy is my job. I dont know how easy my job is. I think my job is an incredible honor. I have worked on the relationship. I was doing this nearly 30 years ago. I believe firmly in the importance of the relationship of both countries. There is a phrase i use frequently in el salvador that i believe. It is an article of faith for me. El salvador has no better friend than the United States. I can prove that to you in any number of ways and quantify that in any number of ways. And i think the el salvador and people appreciate that. For this anxiety to do is maintain strength and deepen that relationship. Our differences on certain issues are wellknown. We have made no secret of them. I would disagree a little bit with the invocation that gangs were already in decline when president bukele took over. That would not be the perception of the average salvadoran. Part of his astonishing popularity, pulling around 85 and is Public Security policy poles around 96 , we have to recognize there is something there. I have said publicly, and i will keep on saying, the government has at least two obligations. One to provide Public Security. The other to provide due process of law. Is not an either or choice. It needed not be in either or choice. Nevertheless look at the demographics of el salvador. Look at the number of people in el salvador that are greater than 50 of the population that have never in their lives known the time where they could walk the streets in safety. Now they can. Think about what that means to them. That is what explains those polling numbers. I think we have to reckon with that and the failures of previous governments in el salvador both in terms of governance and Public Security. What is happening today in el salvador has historical context. If we fail to understand that, then, we are not going to be the kind of partners for el salvador that i think we need to be. Is my job easy . I dont know. But it is a heck of a lot of fun. Thank you so much for the opportunity, first of all, to be here with all of you. I was really excited when the wha undersecretary Brian Nichols said, you will be meeting with the think tank. Then my conversation last night with the ambassador to canada david cohen, he said, make sure you get something out of it. Make sure that you are very clear on the ask because, think tanks can help you do your job better. So, first of all, i would have to agree. I would have to agree with you. It is really deeply and honored to be serving the United States in this capacity in belize. I touched ground in belize six months ago. Being a little a political appointee it seems like a lot of information. Though, i have worked in the state of armored over a decade ago. It is sort of wanted to be. I am proud to serve alongside such talented and incredible diplomats. Some of the challenges in belize range from the increase of tcos, transnational criminal organizations, migration, and as though belize is not in the northern triangle, we are very close. As i looked to my right, there is currently an icj ruling we are waiting for about a territorial dispute between what obama and belize that is still pending between guatemala and belize that is still pending, though, hundreds is now involved because they have argued for the keys on the far south of belize. That means, its about 50 of belize it is votes of the other way. Other things. The economy is back to prepandemic times. As you mentioned, about a million american tourists travel through belize. Also, belize is one of the seven countries that recognizes taiwan. And, when there is a lot of democratic backsliding in the region, it is a champion of democracy. It has been a huge advocate for human rights. One of the very first things that was on my table of things to do was reset all the first guantanamo detainee. That was not an easy task. And what else . I guess i will stop there. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to speak about a region that i think is absolutely vital to the United States. I think the importance of this region, not just Central America, but latin america and the caribbean as a whole is of importance not understood properly in the washington, d. C. Area or across the United States. We have a deep and profound connection between the people of honduras and the people of the United States. That is one of our most important relationships. I came to the position of ambassador last year after a vacancy of five years in the ambassadorial role. I arrived in april. One of my first jobs within my first week was to complete the extradition of the former president of honduras who is awaiting trial in the United States now. We all need to recognize and doris honduras came under the administration of president castro in a very difficult position and the economy has really struggled come back after covid. It was weeks before covid. Health care system is struggling to recover from covid and it was weak going into the pandemic as well. So, we are happy to work with the administration and president castro. Her election was something very notable in many senses. Not only is she the first female leader in the country of honduras as president , she also came in with a sweeping victory of the votes. This demonstrates the strength of the democratic desire, i think, in honduras people honduras. People came to vote on a very large numbers because they wanted to make their opinion of the last president perfect and clear. We are working together in the government in a lot of important areas to benefit both countries. We are looking at human rights. We are looking at education. We are looking at health care. We are working hard to try to create jobs. Much of what we do is under the root causes of migration strategy because if we cannot improve conditions in honduras we will continue to see a never ending flow of people moving to the north. It is also an increasing challenge in the country to manage transit migrants coming through. While we talk about honduras in the context of a source country we have to think about it also as a transit country and increasingly a destination country. Its also a very poor country. Its capacity to deal with a lot of these challenges is incredibly limited. There are a lot of things we still need to address. We are pushing forward and working closely with the government at president castro herself has taken a leadership role with an International Anticorruption commission that has moving far more slowly that i think either she would like or any of the rest of us would like. But it is moving and we would anticipate we would see people on the ground from the u. N. Shortly there. We are focused on prosperity, security, and democracy. All those items tied together. I think you have to strengthen all of them simultaneously or you will not have a successful country. We are working on encouraging the government of honduras to put into place strong and good economic policies. They have made some decisions, especially in some very important sectors, that i have commented on previously. Some concerns about Energy Legislation and things like that. The country now unfortunately is experiencing severe power outages. Much of that is due to longstanding problems in the energy sector. It has nothing to do with what has been going on recently. Combined with severe drought on going out. It has created difficult challenges. Like our neighbors in el salvador, they have put in place an exception for security. However they are doing is very differently than what has been going on in el salvador. So, this has been underway for several months. Extended it expanded several times and i anticipate it will probably remain in place. I have not seen andy indications the government intends to step back on their state of emergency. I will leave it there and turn it over to my colleague in guatemala. I will begin by echoing colleagues thanks for the invitation for the opportunity to be here today and to talk about the very important region. Specifically in the case of guatemala where i have been ambassador for almost three years we have seen, i think, a little bit it really then some of the other countries on the economic front, pretty strong recuperation and relatively rapid recuperation from the covid19 pandemic. What a model already had very strong macroeconomic circumstances prior to the pandemic. It was able to emerge pretty quickly. It had good, strong flows of not only remittances come as was mentioned earlier, but also, investment over the last two years. That has helped feel quite a bit of new job creation. Thats positive because guatemala, one of its Biggest Challenges is, economically speaking, the high degree of and formality. Thats not unique to walla walla, but two guatemala, but particularly, spaces in the interior of the country that feels migration. A little less though dead other countries in the region. Economics is the primary driver even among securities. Migration to the United States, 90 plus of migrants are leaving for lack of economic opportunities. And connected in large part in formality. To the extent investment has been growing, the Vice President s call to action now referred to as the Central America forward effort to attract more investment not only to guatemala, but other countries in northern and Central America. It is bringing new opportunities here. There is hope that will bring alternatives to migration going forward. Security continues to be a challenge. But, not quite at the high levels of crime of other nations in the immediate area. However, transnational criminal activity has unfortunately, been very closely linked out only to narcotics trafficking but human smuggling. The guatemalan authorities are in an area where the u. S. Cooperates closely with them. They have been very successful particularly in captures or extraditions. The last two years have been record years in that space. As well as new efforts to go after human smuggling and trafficking in persons that. Those have been bright spots of cooperation, certainly more to do with some Gang Activity that has continued to spread into what about a from neighboring countries as well. Into guatemala from neighboring countries as well. We are a few days into the first rounds of National Elections come in not only at the president ial level but for every member of the Guatemalan Congress and every one of the 340 municipalities. Its an election, that, were lh levels of participation but a lot of it happens with the backdrop of concerns around rule of law, strength of institution. Prosecution of judges, prosecutors, independent media so a lot of focus on the process. The electoral process at the state. There have been a number of congress that have not been permited to run. Thats presented a high degree of attention on who has been included and who hasnt. From the u. S. Perspective, weve been calling for as inclusive a process as possible and free and fair process throughout the electoral period. Of course, there will be likely under guatemalan law, 50 plus one process for the presidency so theres a likelihood of having the second round in august so a lot of focus will be not only on the next two weeks but certainly all the way into august when the president ial results are likely to come forward. Finally, just on migration. Certainly its the largest source of migrants in Central America but also a major transit company. Guatemala has been a Strong Marine on returns, reintegration, Border Security as well as root causes but migration has certainly continued. 2021 and 2022 were record years. We have seen a decrease in migration since the end of title 42 in may. There are, i think, a number of reasons for that but we have also looked for legal pathways, ways to create more information and more availability for pathways for migrants. Those mentioneds both for costa rica and graduate mala is one tool to hopefully provide access to individuals from ha virtual platform to connect to information that would allow them to be considered for legal pathways. That is, i think, a groundbreaking effort to create alternatives for regular migration. Make it more humane and safer and take some of the criminality of out of it from organizations that are taking advantage of victimizing a lot of people. Thank you to all of you for being here today. And your commitment to Central America, which has long been neglected and we cant afford to do that anymore. So thank you again for being here with us. As you know, im the u. S. Ambassador to costa ricaa. An incredible privilege and honor for me. Some of you may know that my father was an ambassador to costa rica, appointed by president kennedy in the 1960s. In fact, i grew up there. Its been incredible. So what i want to start with, i think, and a couple of notes are on my iphone so bear with me. Its an extraordinary country, in many respects. A father my place my father used to call a little piece of heaven. Its people are very kind, warm and generous and also, it has been important. I would say arguably the most constant american ally over many decades. So it was during the time we were there in the 1960s and has been a real advocate for human rights, for democracy. Its been a role model for latin america and oftentimes the International Organizations stood up and criticized governments like nicaragua, venezuela for its not having free and fairelection, imprisonment of citizens, etc. It has been incredible in relation to other countries. Ive been able to enjoy it and i wanted to mention here my good friend, ambassador to washington. Is here with us today. So this is the thing that concerns me, though. Ill mention this very quickly. It was transformed in the last few decades from having an agriculture culturally based country in terms of the economy, which now its greatest export is medical devices and tourism contributes incredibly to the g. N. P. 20 Million People visit puerto rico. Its certainly a very popular country in many ways. What id like to say, though, is the following. I am extremely concerned. Being back in costa ricaa now after many decades, im concerned about the it is in a very unstable region and situation which is becoming more and more concerning as time goes on. Basically whats happened, i believe, theres been a convergens of forces. Devastating forces that have had an impact on the region and its creating other threats and risks, even in costa rica, unfortunately. Some of this was exacerbated by the pandemic, which caused high employment among many other things. And a vacuum of bad actors. They came in to fill a void for people going hungry and unemployed and needed to find a way to support their families. Unfortunately its become the largest hub for cocaine. Coming from peru, to the United States and europe. Very concerned. Originally it was mike a maritime activity but now its begun to infiltrate and creating increasing crime, citizen security, money laundering, destruction and such things. That type of thing didnt exist in costa ricaa before and its becoming more of a problem which were tried to attend to. Significantly we have a challenge with the vacuum created by the pandemic. Created opportunities for our rivals, if you want to call them. And right now we are dealing with substantial presence of those kinds of actors in terms of increasing communities, increasing investment, infrastructure and such things. So we are right now kind of in the midst of a tug of war in relation to packen 5 00 which the 5 00 5, which the government is prepared to move forward with. Also, we had substantial migration surges into costa ricaa, certainly in the fall of last year. They had already received a significant migration from nicaragua. A little over 5 million. 20 now of the population are migrants. So anything raga has at least00,000 mike grant and with the surge of migrants from south america, venezuela in particular, they were getting around 4,000 migrants a day around october, november, which caused a huge concern, alarm in the country. They were having to spend a lot of resources right now on things like Public Security, education and on health care and so the president and his cabinet are asking for assistance, from the u. S. And others. But that has been a concern because, again, they call themselves country in a sandwich. They have migration from the north, which is unlike any other country, and also migration from the south. So i dont think any other country is quite in the same situation in the same magnitude as costa ricaa. So that has been extremely also of concern. But also, we managed to negotiate an agreement to house one of these kind of mobility offices in costa ricaa, which was something quite generous on their part, given the fact that theyre already feeling un inundated with mike rants. That was quite a testament to the bilateral relationship. Also, they had last year, significant cyberattacks on the government across the board on many their treasury and others. Also affected the Health Care Units there and agency and that kind of paralyzed things for a period of time and even this year there was another cyberattack. It seems to coins side when costa rica alliance itself with the u. S. Theyve been very critical of the russian invasion of ukraine. It seems that theres something to that. What else . Lets see. Weve done a whole variety of things to try to assist costa ricaa and friends and try to keep it the secure, stable nation its been for a long time but there are significant problems right now. Costa rica zip has a still has that great business environment. Democracy, friendly to the u. S. And this president has made it clear hes rolling out the red carpet for american investment. Thats advanced hundreds of u. S. Businesses. We wont go into everything but weve enabled to help with certain assistance, whether its banks, through the 5g. Global forrens financing loans through the world bank. And on and on and also very importantly, trade with cybersecurity. At this point in time. We have taken from both of those and will continue to. Its important for them to avoid additional attacks. I think that one of the reasons that the ambassador also has been successful in many of these things is that weve put together an amazing team and weve tried to make sure we have a cohesive, interactive, Supportive Team that creates synergy so we meet regularly, almost like a war room, to address the various challenges we have. And i think its been very successful to this time. Including the investment of a billion dollars about a year ago. Last thing i want to say in terms of costa rica is something that President Biden if i could just say this quickly that President Biden kind of mentioned to us some time ago and im a huge supporter of the president but i would just like to mention this. This is a quotation directly from President Biden. I know we made Foreign Policy out to be in great, great skill, that somehow its sort of like a secret cold, he said in a conference. But all it is is the logical extension of personal rhythms. Its the way human nature functions. As my father would say, if you want people to care about you, you have to care about them sin syruply. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you very much, ambassador. Your thoughts are very much echoed in the sense it is an extension of personal relations and Foreign Policy and youre doing an exemplary job. I think ambassador duncans point about the wish to collaborate is sin syrup and despite the challenges, too, because they are formidable. Im going to open the panel to questions and answers. I remember from nicaragua but i was born in the cold war. So i was grateful to be host and basically adopted by costa rica. So i love the mayor last night sent me a message last night saying that she was wrong on a piece of information she had provided on the migrants in the northern part of costa rica. She said 13 of the region was foreign born. She said i was wrong. We just did a study looking at Health Services provided nearby, and it is 25 . So ive wonder how will that impact now with this new agreement because you will expect to see an inflow of nick rack juans going nick rag juans going to costa rica to apply. Its concerning overall for all of the countries but costa rica may have to face these challenges too. We have one question here on this side. One question there . And i apologize. The costa rica ambassador to the United States is here and we have a question there so lets start here. Thank you. Ambassador telles already covered this but maybe for the others. As you get up in the morning, whats the one thing you wish official washington understood better . Good question. Mary . I have a question for ambassador duncan but i think it applies to the other countries in the region. Its true that theres been dramatic challenges recently in el salvador theres a palpable change in climate but its also true that rates of violence are coming down significantly and something to do, i think, with programs that are initiated in the neighborhoods with atrisk youth and also changes in Police Policy focuses on hot spots and things like that so there has been a significant decline in violent. And we know that violence prevention efforts do work, that theyre long term and people want meet results. So immediate results. So what is happening and convince governments to look in the long term rather than just the meet . Immediate . Thank you, ambassador . One of the things that maybe only one of you mentioned but it affects all of our countries in Central America is the issue of nicaragua right now and we had this week or nicaragua had the visit of the president of we know that russia has sent quite of bit of not only inform ants, training that they have inform ants, training they have and over things. How are you all dealing with this, if you can talk about it . Because that is a very delicate cop topic, not only for costa rica but for the entire Central America region. Thank you. Question over there . Thank you. Thank you, ambassadors. This is a question for the ambassador from honduras. As long as we can remember the government and private sector havent been able to work very well together. Its continually in the news and it hinders progress on a lot of fronts. Both in the private sector, associate, etc. What has the current government done to move the needle in the right direction . Ill give you the same order. Your choice. Tough mike folks mike phone. How un. Well, i dont know if i can remember all those questions. I can remember the first one. What do i wish washington knew . I wish everyone knew theres a lot more going on in el salvador than the state of exception. I think were dealing with a government there that also has some extremely ambitious and interesting plan for the Economic Development in the country. They believe they can leapfrog using digitalization, hightech, moving beyond what have traditionally been the important sectors for Foreign Investment in the country and i think those extremely ambitious plans they have are worth recognizing and i think there are areas where we can collaborate and i think theres a lot more opportunity for United States growth in el salvador than is presently realized and another question about the state of exception. Yes, murder rates peeked in el salvador in 2015 and theyve been coming down the last few years. Parts of that was an effort supported by the United States to use more intelligenttrained policing. But i travel lightly when i go there. I talk to people in the fields and people in the government. I havent met anybody yet who is not happy about the current state of security in the country, even those people who have reservations about the way its being done recognize that this has been a game changer for el salvador. So the question now becomes, having cleared the gang side of that space in so many of those communities, what now . And that is the conversation we are trying to have with the salvadoran government. They are thinking very hard about this. So you have communities, just to give you very concrete examples. Communities that have never, in the last 40 years, been able to organize themselves as communities and do things as simple as clean up a public park so that their kids can play there. Because that park was controlled by a gang and it was worth your life to go into that park without per in addition many. So permission. So now, theyre beginning to get into these communities, the salvadoran government. Help them organization and get into a space that was previously dominated by thugs who lived on the basis of extortion, intimidation and violence. Well, we have our reservations about state of exception. I think the United States government needs to get in there and help the salvadoran government create something positive in those spaces and ill stop there. I just want to turn to the question of security, which i think is a really important one and affects all the countries, i think in the region, as we heard even in costa rica. I dont think we should measure security simply on the basis of how much people die. One of the biggest problems in honduras is extortion. This drives people out of their countries if they can earn a good living and then they have to pay to get into their neighborhood to get home safely at night, they dont actually earn anything other than supporting the gangs that are living in their community. Its important to judge it not just on lowering homicide rates but lowering of the criminality in total across the country. Its a very challenging problem and a lot of us are working in these areas. We have extensive programs working in these communities. We recognize that its not just lowering the homicide rates but if we cant get these young people in the communities into jobs. If they dont feel like they have a future but they have an opportunity to join a gang, thats what theyre going to do. So the job is focusing on the Overall Health of communities and societies and we have to be able to do that hand in hand with the governments in these countries and with the communities that live there. Ill tackle the nicaragua question because i dont know if anybody else wants to dive into that one. And i was ambassador in nicaragua previously. So i have quite a bit of experience with nicaragua and now i live right next door in honduras. I think its fair to say that there are security concerns certainly in the region. I cant speak for costa rica but obviously you are. And i think for security concerns in the region and i think all of the countries are focused on how they can Work Together when necessary to benefit their citizens because with a huge amount of trade and people flow and connectivity that has to happen crossing those borders but at the same time they are concerned with what is going on in nicaragua. And its a tricky situation and we are working in honduras to deal with the effects of that and i know that the ambassador in costa rica is dealing with that situation on her side of the border. Its going to come to be tricky. When you have a government thats actively aligning itself with the western view of things by tightening up relationships with russia, with iran, things like that, its a problem. I know we have a team on the ground in nicaragua that continues to work to the extent that they can, carefully and closely with government of nicaragua. Nicaragua is a beautiful country. Its full of wonderful people that are working hard every single day to have a wonderful life for them and for their families and i know thats what we want for the people of nicaragua as well. Let me take the private sector rhythm question for honor deuce. Obviously its been a rough road and in you monitor the needa about whats going on in honduras right now, the road still remains rocky and its really unfortunate because theres a huge amount of opportunity in the economy of honduras. Theres a huge and talented pool of workers available there. Although if they dont have job opportunities, that pool of people is going to get smaller and smaller as they continue to migrate north. There are Excellent National resources in the country. We have Many American Companies Operating Successful Companies from despite the challenges, politically and economically and what i hear from them consistently is that the productivity of their workers in honduras is higher than almost any place else. So these are very effective employees and i think theres more opportunities for American Business and for honduran business to invest in the country. That said, it has to be a partnership. Vice president harris has been working hard to bring investments to Central America. Weve been working hard to bring part of that investment into honduras but you have to have basis of rule of law and consistent policies so investors know their investments are going to be safe. You cant have things like threatening ex approach persuasion in different industries. It sends exactly the wrong message. Regardless of what some of the intents behinds these mention are, we know that there are challenges in that environment. And until we can get past all that its going to be hard to see large growth in honduras and thats unfortunate for the future. For example were dealing with the benefit, i think of coming out of the pandemic. Thats a huge opportunity for the government and all of the countries there need to be taking advantage of that unique opportunity. The seconds thing is a call to action from Vice President harris. Ive been doing this for over 30 years and i have never seen a time when the Vice President of the United States is actively looking for investments outside of the United States. We have that time now. So we have two things going on and this is the moment for all those governments to capitalize on that and the window of opportunity is small and its going to close. So its the responsibility of Economic Development officials across the region to step into that gap and take advantage of this unique opportunity. Were trying to work with the government of honduras on that. I sure i im sure i speak for any colleagues that theyre doing the same thing with their governments. But that helps too. We need truth sector participant in all of these other churns to work with the american and International Investors coming from the outside. I took more than my fair share of the time here. Does anybody else want to analysis any of these questions . Im quickly maybe touch on the first question about whether we what can wed like to see more of and also jump on what william said earlier. I think its for all of us, not just washington but as americans and the region to see the importance of Central America. So many times we look at only the challenges, the risks, the issues but frankly, theres a lot of opportunities. It may be a small region in compare son to the rest of the hemisphere or maybe even the rest of the worlds but one way too important to ignore. It affects u. S. Securities, u. S. Prosperity. If nothing showed us more than the pandemic, the connectiveness between countries and regions of world where we have to Work Together to confront these challenges. Covid19 putt that in sharp relief. The migration issue that is affect the whole region. Its truly a shared responsibility to work on those issues. Thats what came out it have los angeles declaration of some of the americas last year, the commitment to work on that together. So i think keeping the focus amongst u. S. Society society, the private sector, etc. , but also partners across the region to recognize how important in area is to our mutual shared future. In terms of nicaragua, from the perspective of working in guatemala, certainly in the time ive been from, much more focus, attention to some of the phenomenon issue that is youve mentioned, ambassador. A commitments by the guatemalan government to work from through, particularly the organization of the United States, to address some of those concerns. Unfortunately whats happening not only is creating a lot of security concerns and questions around democracy and freedoms but also generating a lot of migration. Certainly the countries more to the north of nicaragua. Not only has there be a tradition of nick rack wants nicaraguans going south, now were seeing them go north. Up towards the u. S. Border as well as it being a springboard for others to come in and transit to the United States. Thats something we all have to work on. Thank you. A lot of questions were asked but ill focus a little bit on nick raga. Nicaragua, costa ricas neighbor to the north. There has been increasingly a huge transformation in nicaragua in the wrong direction. Increasing oppression. Lack of rule of law and also, as you may have heard, probably the last year and a half or so, theres been a stronger and Stronger Alliance with russia. They now have probably over 500 military offices that have been integrated into the nicaraguan nicaraguan harem. Theyve given them weapons, all kinds of they think so. My understanding that is from ambassador sullivan, there was an agreement made prior to the 2018 election with putin. And that has proven to be very concerning. Legislation is was written back in 2018 and more recently, the ambassador tells me, definitely has evidence of russian introducing 234 there also. In terms of writing legislation. Strategies, etc. When they took over the o. A. S. , i understand again from the ambassador that the weapons they were using were russian. So its very, very significant. They have a very significant Intelligence Center there thats growing. Costa rica doesnt have an army so theyre very worryrd as they look at their neighbor up north that something may happen at some point in time but certainly well be there to support them. But cost reek has stood up repeatedly in National Organizations to hold them out on a variety of things. But not without concern. Costa rica shares, again, all of their northern border with nicaragua. Theyre worried about commerce and getting their goods across. Costa rica has received as i mentioned earlier, probably close to a million nicaraguans. Including persons that they have greeted status. So i think that the International Community really needs to focus on the growing threat we have in nicaragua to costa rica, to the region, to our observe National Security and we have to figure out what were going to do together to deal with this. Thank you. Id like to address the question of what keeps us up at night . And the things that i guess its not that washington doesnt know, as ambassador paul said. They know clearly. Especially countries like it is a population of only 400,000 people. Incredibly willing partners. The incredible access in the highest levels of government but i think one area or one thing that was mentionedded in our conference yesterday by mark was prevention. Because of the location of the belize, because its english speaking, there are so many incredible opportunities but at the same time its worrisome and what keeps me up at night is the tipping point. Under my watch, i want the relationship to be strengthened, i want it to be better but there are some worrying trends we see that theyre not able to address. Belize has borders. It has neighboring countries like guatemala and mexico and also el salvador. As el salvador cracks down on gangs, where do they go . Its so easy to go to belize. Weve seen increasing trends where gangs are coming. Increasing numbers of human snuggling and trends and theres nothing top stopping it and i think with the lack of intel and the lack of secure borders, its really a daunting task to be parachute into a very Important Role and i think for us not having the resources and capacity but one thing i always say, its like a little money goes a long way in a country like belize. And do we need to light ourselves on fire in order to get the help and aid . In belize we specifically dont have a recommendation or interagency like the u. S. A. Present in our country. And as you mentioned about costa rica, theres no army and thats worrying. As weeks earlier, we need Creative Ideas to really address these serious challenges because as i look around with the team and ambassador embassy, theyve been scavengers. One of them is seeking funding for the p. R. C. Theres no p. R. C. Foot print because belize recognizing taiwan but we are trying to counter p. R. C. So as we look at similar to ambassador tehlles, also looking at other alternatives but when you look at belize, which is such a tiny economy, help how can you find investors that are interested in our country like that . Its definitely challenging but something im sure all of us wake up and write things down to see if our team can really come up with solutions to address these problems that we deal with every day. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think it is sobering to some stents to hear you. We try from in side of the border to viablize as much as possible. To make washington aware of thing that any today of the problems throughout Central America. Again, its not just about homicides, i totally agree with you. And sometimes its frustrating to get the administration to take a more personal response to the situation in the region. They tell you in your face nicaragua is real. And people sayd used to say in congress. You end you were with a billion dollars. Hopeless dictators. With that, we do have key issues. Were going to have another round of questions before we close it. We have the ambassador, jose luis over there. Thanks very much, manuel. First of all, congrats to all of you. I listened to the comments about wishing that washington would pay more attention or be more aware of the opportunities. I say to you with all sincerity, no sarcasm. Weve been writing and saying this for 30 years. So recognize that. The money is not coming. Mike fierstein, myself, i can tell you its not coming and the Vice President s initiative has been phenomenal but its all pledges. And so, like a pledge conference, ill believe it when i see it. The money is not coming so what do i do . Any injunction is nobody fires an ambassador unless you really do something stupid. People, push your own limits. That is the best thing i can do. Two quick questions. Lauren and will with. Both of you who are are the with the mexicans extensively. The garcia luna case showed that despite every ambassadors best efforts to coordinate a country team, there are agencies that dont play well in the sands box and they tend to have the effect of creating a unilateral Foreign Policy that leaves you the messes. So my question for anybody who wants to pick it up is, how do you manage and all of you have securities problems, all of you have drug frocks. All of you have the d. E. A. And the department of justice sitting in your ambassadors. How embassies. How do you manage those . And can you address the freedom of expression. And they had to leave salvador and have now set up shot in cynthias capital, in san jose. Thanks very much, guys, in everything you guys do. Thank you. Thank you, great question but one any percentage for ambassadors dunken and paul mainly. Ambassador duncan, you have no fear of recognizing the differences with governments but their government, including obviously the party. The number of municipalities, the number of congress seats. Eight months before reelection and there are reports on Human Rights Violations on the country. At the same time the u. S. Is putting money to create fellowships programs for exiled prosecutors and judges here in washington, d. C. And the u. S. But the rule of law, they obviously of judicial system hasnt been part that we know of the two conversations of the Vice President with the president the last two weeks. You said not a word about that. So if the u. S. Are cruising using with the governments of el salvador, why is that criticism that we saw [indiscernible] we have one more question here. Ambassador duncan, i know you have too many questions for now but in question is for you. Im salvadoran, im immigrants. I know we want to avoid the topic as much as we can. But this week President Biden announced that t. P. S. Was going to be extended until 2025. I know the narrative of immigration is changing. So i think the question will be on the aspect of washingtons focus right now should be on the benefits of those here in the u. S. One thing people say about El Salvadorans and that youre going to find salvadorans everywhere you go. Thats true for us here in the country. So yeah, that is my question pretty much. Thats more questions nan i can team keep in my little head. John, you know the answer better than i do. Controlling our team is eternal vigilance. I spent a lot of time when i was with mexico and even more time meeting with Law Enforcement and others and my message has always been clear and simple. I amihere to ensure your success. Im not the States Department ambassador to el salvador. Im the u. S. Department governments ambassador to el salvador. Everything is just as important to me but obviously you have an obligation and have been ordered by the president of the United States to keep me fully informed of what youre up to and im not noted for being a forgiving person. So i think if youre going to be an ambassador, youre not willing to invest that kind of time in energy and being aware of what theyre up to and helping them be successful at it, youre not doing your job. Freedom of expression, and i dont blame either of you, because theres no reason that you should but if you havent heard what the u. S. Ambassador to el salvador had to say about freedom of expression and its importance in a democratic society, its because you havent been listening. I have not been shy about it and its a topic i will continue to touch upon. And migration. Look, i completely understand why washington is obsessed with migration and obviously i believe migration needs to be safe, legal and orderly but for my points, i think we miss the points when we always start off talking about migration. We need to started off talking about education, investment, Economic Development, effective governance, Public Security. All of the things you and i want here at home in the United States is the same thing people want in el salvador, i think. And thats where we need to start and ben gauging. One more time, we have an enormously important tool at our disposal in each of our countries. The three northern Central American countries and that is the h2 visa program and we are underutilizing that tool. El salvador has one of the best workforces in the worlds bar none. If you dont believe me, walk out of this building and walk around the washington metropolitan area and see what salvadorans have done in this country. 70 of the El Salvadoran workforce is looking for jobs. We need tens of thousands of Agricultural Workers in the u. S. We need tens of thousands more every year. We need to start encouraging u. S. Farmers to look for more. Usid is looking to find more. Effectively recruiting in places like mexico. The actual cost of bringing a worker from el salvador to the United States is not really very much more than bringing one from mexico and i could bore you by explaining the details because i use to be the Council General in monterrey, mexico. We are failing to get the word out and im going to due my part to change that but there are talent of salvadoran who wants to come here and work seasonally. Its important because its a legal pathway. Really, its ports because those people go back with earnings in their hands. For them, thats capital. Theyre going to invest it. I do not know when el salvador is going to put a man or a woman on the moon but i know in when that first salvadoran astronaut gets to the moon, they will open a business. [laughter] because thats what salvadoran do. And if we can get these 2 workers in the circuit and going back with theirer ernie johnsonings, they are going to open Small Businesses and theyre already doing it, i meet them. And thats going to create 2001, two, three four jobs at a time. Thats enormous for the salvadoran economy and we need to make sure were taking advantage of it and salvadoran are taking advantage of it. Thank you. In honduras were doing exact will i the same thing. We have a large and growing program. Its gone of thousands of percentages over last couple of years but the numbers are still very small and need to be much larger. I think the other thing thats important is education knowledge. If theyre working on Agricultural Properties in the United States, they return that knowledge to their own communities. Its a winwin on all sides and keeps them from doing that dangerous journey. We are working hard also with the mini city is ministry of labor. They are shortening up the amount of time it takes to get things done. Private recruiters are welcome as well if they want to find talent. Is working with us on all aspects of migration. We have a close relationship with them as they struggle to deal with both the loss of their own citizens, which they do not wants. Also with a huge number of people that are tran sitting through. You mentioned the large numbers of nicaraguans that are passing through but when costa rica gets 4,000 people, by the time you add the people in nicaragua, that number goes up fourth. And the number of hondurans leaving and arriving in nick wag a nicaragua, that number gets bigger it yet. It is a huge problem and the hondurans are trying to get people safely into and through their country as they can. But it is not easy when you have your same citizens clamoring for all of the same assistance. To say youre going to give this to the transiting migrants and not to the citizens of the country. This is where they have to Work Together much more closely and effectively to have to deal with all of that. The conditions cause causing people to leave is more of the responsibility of the host country but dealing with all of the rest of that is something that the entire region has to work on together. Quickly add that honduras, salvador, guatemala on the h2 visa record. Still record numbers. Still not nearly the roof of the potential but a winwin. For the United States and the countries of the region and its an opportunity not only for humane and safe and legal migration by also an Economic Force multiplier. Both here and the workforce of those countries, bringing back capital and knowhow and supporting their communities. And keeping families together. We often talk about the impacts of migration across International Levels but what its doing to communities as well, folks are leaving, leaving behind members of their family, etc. Weve seen remains of domestic violence, all sorts of family dislocation continue to grow. So when folks can go work for a short period of time, come back, have their families stay in place, it has many positive impacts beyond even just the economic. In terms of the rule of law transparency governance. In guatemala and el salvador, weve been very vocal and continues to be and weve been tangible and concrete. In terms of resignations, visa revocations. Manier than 60 people designated using efforts provided by the u. S. Congress to take action. Where the evidence meets the statutory requirements, members of the private sector, members of the legislative body, former and current individuals, we have continued to also provide support for various sectsors, Civil Society, independents media. The program that was mentioned in terms of exchanges and fellowships. Also just working with Civil Society in general. Ultimately these issues of rule of law and transparency, supporting institutions has to start within the countries themselves so contributing Additional Resources to Civil Society, to building capacity. Weve pulled back assistance that we used to provide in the case of guatemala to the public ministry. The only attorney general in the worlds thats does i guess nateed by the u. S. Government and its does nateed by the u. S. Government and its unfortunate. Weve been vocal about our concerns of impunity in that space. The prosecution of former and doesnt judges and thats not going to stop. Were supporting rule of law for the benefit of guatemala and for guatemalans to fulfill their own laws and institutions. One question weve asked which has to do with how do you get your team to Work Together and what do you do with those out there doing their own thing . When i first got to costa rica, it was a little bit it was a little bit like there this was conflict in between one department and another. And so for me, my primary goal was to figure out how to bring them all together as a team that created synergy and so i think its about setting up a really important common goal, a north star. They can all buy into. And, again, going back to a relationship, establishing that with every one of them and also bringing them together and reinforcing those collaborative efforts and bringing out the best in each one and also making sure that they knew that for me, the most important thing was for us to build together and go towards the north star. I established some specific ones. Its always good to establish annex term adversary. There is great synergy, great collaboration. Great working together with the intelligence community. Whether the Intelligence Officers or the state department weve worked together extremely well. And in fact, we were asked by d. O. D. , d. E. A. And c. O. A. , how are you guys doing it . Its unusual. Youre working together as a whole government and winning on those various fronts but it takes a lot of energy and effort to make sure that you create that dynamic. But my d. E. A. Guy is fantastic. So its a matter of trying to figure out how to the fact that im a Clinical Society may have helped a little bit with this effort but in any event, its working. Ill be very quick and i cant, being a former olympian, not see a sports analogy in this. Similar to what ambassador telles just said about the team. Its coming together and getting folks that, often times in a country like belize, we have our Regional Support elsewhere. El salvador. Honduras. Its bringing people to the table. At the same time, in figure skating it was always an individual sport. Im on the ice all alone but at the same time i dont. Im not alone. I have an Incredible Team of coaches, and choreographers and trainers and everybody else. So although you see you will of us here on the stage. We have an Incredible Team that work hard day in, day out serving our country. Thank you. Thank you very much. Olympian challenges for conflict Cooperation Solutions and we appreciate you being here. Thank you very much. Weve run out of time but its been really good to have you and hear your perspectives and wish you good luck for the remaining of your terms. Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. 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